Once Again, PBS Opts for Safety First

Are the Days of Fine Arts Programming Over?

Terry Teachout

Broadway isn't what it used to be. Neither is the Metropolitan Opera, whose coming season could be canceled in whole or part if it locks out its union members. But, then, neither are the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the New York City Ballet or the New York Philharmonic … and up to a point that's a good thing.

Fifty years ago, New York's fine-arts institutions set the tone for the arts in America to an extent that is unimaginable now. One of the reasons for their collective dominance, of course, was...